Bank of the West Acknowledges Data Breach

Bank of the West recently began notifying an undisclosed number of former job applicants that the information they had provided in an online job application may have been accessed by hackers.

"On December 19, 2013 we discovered that a retired Internet application that provided job listings and accepted applications for positions at the Bank had been illegally accessed," Bank of the West human resources director Eric Eisenberg wrote in the notification letter [PDF]. "While we do not have conclusive evidence that personal information was taken during this access, the unauthorized users may have obtained information on certain job candidates."

That information includes the applicants' user names and passwords, along with their names, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and birthdates.

"On discovery of the potential data exposure, the servers involved were promptly secured and additional security measures were established," Eisenberg wrote. "We are also actively cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation of this incident."

All those affected are being offered one free year of First Watch ID identity monitoring services.